A wave of revenge killings in North Chennai has put the district's gang underworld back under scrutiny, with police confirming that every major gang leader currently operates from inside prison. Three men were hacked to death in the space of a week in June in the neighbourhood of Vyasarpadi, the latest flare-up in a cycle of violence that Chennai police describe as predictable, cyclical and stubbornly difficult to break.
For readers tracking how organised crime, urban poverty and policing interact across the Commonwealth, North Chennai offers a stark case study. The men at the top of the city's gangs have been behind bars for years, in some cases decades, yet police sources concede their grip on extortion, drugs and land grabbing remains intact.
What happened in Vyasarpadi?
On 22 June, advocate T Ravi was hacked to death in full public view at the main Sathyamurthy Nagar square by a five-member gang on motorbikes. Ravi was known locally for settling disputes and running informal courts, and had recently founded a small political outfit, the Democratic Revolutionary Front. His killing was the third in Vyasarpadi in a single week: a 19-year-old was hacked to death on 20 June, and a cycle mechanic was attacked with sickles two days earlier. Arrests have been made in all three cases.
At Ravi's condolence gathering the following evening, attended by more than a hundred mourners, armed men in the crowd spoke openly of revenge. Residents had already protested against alleged police inaction, with Ravi's relatives initially refusing to accept the body.
Why police call them revenge murders, not contract killings
Chennai police classify these attacks as